vital

Please post your 200 words (no more!) by clicking the comments link at the bottom of this post, keeping in mind The Rules. Next Sunday evening 2013-08-04, previous winner Pooka will read the entries and select a winner.

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5 thoughts on “vital”

[Pasted here from the ‘green’ thread by Admin, to kick things off for ‘vital’]

The Quest

It was an unfamiliar grocery store, my first visit there, in fact. The time was 10 PM; possibly I was the only one shopping at that hour. Looking back, I cannot recall what I had gone there for, but it definitely wasn’t apples. That’s where I wound up, all the same. The usual red, robust apples were on sale, but then there were the tart green ones and the somewhat mealy yellow ones as well. Somehow I began to sense that this was important, perhaps it was even a vital decision for me. Getting some of each was never a consideration, it was about selecting the crucial apple, the One. And maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that I did.
The dark red apple in my hand had a fingernail indentation in it, obviously female. This was an outrage against decency. No I did not put it back, it was imperative that I buy this one. But make no mistake, I would travel anywhere I needed to, I would find this woman, and perhaps there would be vengeance, or else there might be love. That is precisely what I mean to find out.

The police, in their riot gear, didn’t need to hold the crowd back. The downforce from the vessel, deflected sideways by the shallow depression into which it was landing, did that well enough. However, when the pocked and streaked gray sides of the ship began to show through the clearing clouds of dust-laden exhaust fumes, the crowd grew feverish, and surged inwards, eliciting from the barricade cries of “Back! Stand back for the gift!”

A series of metallic clicks, emanating from deep within the ship, immediately stilled the crowd, and with hydraulic hissing, the ramp lowered itself to the ground. A phalanx of Marines methodically descended, anonymously menacing behind full body armor and shiny-faced helmets. Their guns bristled outwards in all directions, forming a protective shell around — what is it? Can anyone see? The crowd strained, but only a few were at the right angle to glimpse a swollen reflection off a curved facemask, of a small girl.

Her gossamer gown hung loosely to her bare feet. In her hands was a small clay pot, and from it was growing a seedling. A very small plant indeed, but so green it almost glowed with vitality.

Winner: Rube. Very challenging this time with only two entries. Both are fantastic and cause me to want more. They are both like opening lines of novels and that alone makes for great entries. Rube gets it by incorporating all the winning words I can remember, and because of the mysterious girl with the plant. What happens next? We gotta know! Wow!